Presence Health

Humanizing health care in Chicagoland

It’s a turbulent time for healthcare providers as we all pivot to the next generation of health and wellness models. Across industries, we’re undergoing radical changes in how we interact with services, in what we expect from our relationships with them and how they fit into our lives. Faced with increasing competition within this climate, providers are challenged to deliver on population health strategies and new technologies despite established fee-for-service models and limited funding.

Presence Health cares for over 4.5 million people, making them one of the largest health systems in Illinois. Although they hold an advantage in scale, leading academic institutions and similarly sized integrated systems crowd the provider market. It’s hard to stand out, especially when consumers in the area didn’t recognize Presence Health as a differentiated provider in terms of quality and reputation — despite their distinctions for exceptional care in clinical programs and facilities. That challenge was made exponentially more difficult thanks to the hospital network’s formation through the merger of two independent health systems and 150 locations.

Lippincott was engaged and worked with management to reign in these inconsistencies and to build a brand strategy and consumer experience to propel Presence Health through this challenging environment. At the core of the strategy was a compelling brand positioning to articulate the mission that drives Presence Health and the qualities that make them unique. Given our shared belief that action and story are equally important, we also reimagined the consumer experience to bring the brand to life across the system.

Understand the Illinois healthcare consumer

We began by learning more about the Illinois healthcare consumer: who they are, what they need, and how they want to receive care from their providers. Using quantitative analysis, we identified nine unique consumer segments that varied by attitude, behavior and health profile, we evaluated their expected interest in new features and experiences. Through this exercise, we found the target audiences that would inspire our brand strategy development, including core consumers who were already likely to visit the system, as well as potential patients they would need to win over.

Make an emotional connection

With these target consumer segments in mind, we underwent a comprehensive look into Presence Health’s core strengths as well as external consumer feedback. We discovered that they already boast an empathetic and deeply compassionate culture, unparalleled access to care in the community and a diverse range of services that offer truly holistic treatment. From these insights, we began to develop an emotionally anchored brand positioning that rings true to who they are today.

We translated their inherent strengths into positioning territories that captured unique emotional benefits for consumers. As further testing revealed that consumers search for the empathy and compassion that Presence Health already delivers — and other providers lack — we built out a brand positioning centered around human connection. Within a system that often feels overwhelming and confusing, we set out to bring back a vital human touch to healthcare.

Building out a story into an experience

Although a compelling brand story is critical, we’ve found that the experience we build around that story contributes up to 70 percent of a brand’s impact.

Our design of the Presence Health consumer experience considered the entire consumer journey — from building relationships with caregivers and the health system, to engaging with care options and following up over time. By identifying the moments that cause the most frustration for patients, we improved the interactions that make the biggest difference, including scheduling, information management and education. Our visits to Presence Health facilities highlighted those particular opportunities for enhancement and ensured we were grounded in the realities of the system.

Using the brand positioning as our compass, we collaboratively identified hundreds of experiences that would alleviate consumer frustrations. We pressure tested each idea to ensure it aligned with the future Presence Health brand and met the specific needs of target consumer segments.

By mapping out the entire consumer journey, we then developed a plan to guide implementation. We prioritized ideas based on their estimated level of investment and expected impact — “no-brainers” would provide strong payoffs with minimal capital requirements, while a few “big bets” could lead to large payoffs with the right resources. Presence Health leaders were empowered to take ownership of the prioritized ideas, helping to lead further development, and piloting the ultimate rollout across the system.

Lippincott helped us better understand our consumers and define the ideal brand position for our health system. Our evolutionary consumer experience roadmap allows us to plan for initiatives that support the fulfillment of our brand promise.

Stand out by staying true

The brand and experience strategy helped Presence Health articulate the qualities that make them so unique and deliver on their ultimate mission: to provide compassionate, holistic care with a spirit of healing and hope in the communities they serve.

Using the brand positioning as a guide, Presence Health developed and rolled out a bold new advertising campaign, which spotlights the “Power of Compassion.” Its narrative draws on the central insights identified in our project — the importance of community and fundamental compassion that sets them apart.